The Danish parliament has been forced to withdraw its own cartoon advert aimed
at encouraging young people to vote in the European elections, after its
sexual, violent and 'offensive' content created a social media storm

Image 1 of 3

A screenshot of Voteman throwing a non-voter into the voting boothPhoto: YOUTUBE

A violent and sexual 90-second cartoon made by the Danish parliament to encourage voting in the upcoming EU elections has been removed after being labelled “offensive”.

The ad introduced ‘Voteman’ - a muscular, leather-clad, aggressive 'superhero' - who is first filmed having sex with five naked women, in an attempt to appeal to younger voters.

He puts a stop to the hanky panky and rushes out to encourage people to vote, interrupting couples having sex and smashing men and women through glass windows to get them to the voting booths.

Before riding into town on two dolphins, he also rips the head off a young person who says he is going to skip the polls, and throws a couple having sex on election day out of the window - bed and all.

The Danish parliament took the video down from it’s YouTube channel this morning, and its chair, Mogens Lykketoft, told the newspaper Ekstra Bladet: “Many, whose views I deeply respect, found the EU Information Centre’s cartoon to be much more damaging and offensive than it was intended to be and felt it talked down to young people.

“Reactions on social media are sharply divided between those who find it unacceptably lame and those who find it to be crude but acceptable humour that could raise awareness of the election on 25 May. The latter was the intention.”

It starts with the graphic scene of Voteman decapitating a young man, with the narrator saying: “When there is a European parliament election, there’s one man you need to call.”

On cue, Voteman appears. It then flashes to him as a young man, saying: “As a young man, Voteman forgot to vote at a European parliament election. That taught him a lesson.

Voteman

“He decided he would dedicate his life making everybody vote.”

It then shows violent scenes of Voteman attacking people and physically throwing them into the nearest voting hall.

As he does so, the narrator says: “So if you’re not going to vote, don’t try to run, don’t try to hide, because he will hunt you down. He will find you and he will make you vote.

“So, what you got to do? You got to vote.”

A woman being pushed through a window to the voting booth

The video then ends with a jokey disclaimer saying: “Voteman is a fictional character. The opinions expressed are solely Voteman’s. No hipsters were harmed in the making of this film.”

Anders Samuelsen, a Liberal Alliance party MP, told thenews agency Ritzau: "I can't understand that you would use violence against women, porn, and the handout of I don't know how many slaps as an argument for people to go and vote."